Now they’re just teasing us. Earlier in the week we got some pretty solid visual verification about the existence of an Android-based PlayStation Phone. Now a Sony executive is all but admitting that such a device is in the works.
During an interview with CNN, Sony SVP Peter Dille wouldn’t actually come right out and confirm that the PlayStation Phone was coming, but he did admit that the PSP’s Wi-Fi connectivity just isn’t enough these days. “People are used to having always-connected devices,” he told the channel.
He added that, while the PlayStation 3’s lifespan is expected to be ten years, things move faster in the mobile world. For one thing, the PSP doesn’t make calls or send text messages. Also, the iPhone and other subsequent smarphones have that whole app store things going for them. Though Dille was quick to write off most smartphone games as “time-killers.”
The exec also expressed concern that the PSP isn’t living up to the multimedia promise of its home-based couterpart, “I don’t think we fully realize that vision with a Wi-Fi device,” Dille said. “If it’s not connected [to a cell network] then it does sort of limit people.”
And what about the speculation that the PlayStation Phone will run a version of Android? A spokeswoman fro Sony told the press, “We have relationships with Google.”